Election, 2

While we're on the subject.

DZ tries to keep party politics out of this blog. I think it's fair to say no-one could make an educated or logical guess at his voting intentions. And I'm not going to alter that. Nor would he dream of trying in any way to influence the way you might vote.

One thing I do believe strongly though is that YOU SHOULD VOTE!

People in the not so distant past have fought hard for the concept of universal suffrage, and some have died fighting.

If you don't vote you have no fucking right to whinge about the outcome.

Election

Once again DZ seems to give the impression of having gone into hibernation, but I’m still here. Maybe I’ll make a new year resolution to post more often. And maybe I won't.

It can not have escaped  anyone’s attention that we have a general election coming up in less than two weeks, and, if the current opinion polls are anything to go by we are likely to have a Conservative government, with a significant majority.

DZ is not going to say who he will vote for, except to say that his intentions are formed by very local issues. What he is about to post should not be taken as an endorsement or otherwise of any political party.

I’ve been very interested to read all the speculation about the future of the NHS. It’s claimed that the tories will sell it off completely to American companies, circling like vultures, waiting to feast on the massive financial potential it presents. I personally think that this is complete bullshit, for a couple of reasons.

a)      If there is anything that unites the British electorate it is that the NHS is something that should be preserved and nurtured above all else. We will all (including our politicians) almost without exception, need it at some time in our lives and we are all reassured that whatever care we will get will already have been paid for. None of us will get a bill after the end of our treatment. In the USA, more than half of all personal bankruptcies result from massive medical bills. In the UK that figure is zero.  Any politician who was responsible for the destruction of the NHS would be committing political suicide. If such a thing were to appear in a party manifesto that party would be destroyed in the election. If a government tried to introduce such a thing they would be opposed by many in their own party, and the house of lords. The suggestion that any party would be so stupid as to introduce a USA style healthcare system, undoubtedly the worst in the developed world, to the UK is ludicrous. There would be massive civil disobedience, rioting, possibly even a general strike. Those responsible would be figuratively, and quite possibly literally, lynched.

b)      Similarly untenable is the idea that a British government would follow such a course at the demand of the current President of the United States, a man so vile, so deranged, so grasping and so unsuitable for office that no sane Prime Minister would acquiesce to his demands. Unless the people of the USA exhibit an act of unbelievable mass insanity this man will no longer be in office a year from now. One can only hope that a far less predatory President will be available to negotiate a less one sided trade deal by then. There is no doubt that Trump doesn’t like our NHS. He doesn’t like it’s collective power to negotiate drug prices to a level far lower than found in the USA. He doesn’t like the social principles on which it operates. Most of all he hates the fact that it’s not available to make a profit from. He can be defied successfully, after all, his attempt to buy Greenland was firmly rebuffed. Boris may look a little like Trump and share one or two attitudes, but unlike Trump he at least has had a decent education and is not entirely stupid. And he’s not orange!

So I don’t think we really have to worry that the wild speculation about the future of the NHS is justified. It has many problems, and is, as ever short of money. But I don’t believe for a moment it’s going to be used as a bargaining counter to get a US/UK trade deal. And I think the current polls reflect that the electorate don’t believe it either.

GMC inconsistency.

When I made that little dig about the GMC in my last post I had no idea I was commenting on the tip of the iceberg. Researching that post I came across this article about the Hospital, North Devon, Where Dr Thomson worked. In the last couple of years two of their consultants have been convicted  of sexual offences. As I commented Dr Thomson does not appear to be of concern to the GMC, and neither do these two consultants.

In a previous post I commented on a GMC case in which a Consultant was pursued, and suspended for doing something that he had every right to do. The GMC fully admitted that the doctor in question was to be unlawfully deprived of his rights under the human rights act in order to be disciplined, as if they were perfectly entitled to do that. What he did was certainly not unlawful. And yet the same GMC doesn't seem to be inclined to pursue a paediatrician convicted of possessing child pornography.

Is it not reasonable to expect a little consistency? Competence? Propriety? Of course not. This is the GMC after all. 

Medical Directors

In the 40 plus years that DZ has worked in the NHS, he has met and interacted with a fair few Medical Directors. They were all individuals in their own right, but one thing they all had in common. They were, without exception, self serving, grasping, selfish, untrustworthy, overambitious egocentric cunts, with less than average abilities in the medical or managerial fields. I've no doubt there are some good ones out there, but I've never met one. I've commented on this blog about some of the worst, such as a prior MD in Pontefract, described by a court judge as a "self confessed liar". I see another one of the little shits has made the headlines.

Bearing in mind he has now left two separate MD positions after allegations of "intimidation and bullying" (Par for the course for MDs in my experience), and "unprofessional behaviour", one wonders why the GMC doesn't seem to be involved. Birds of a feather I suppose.

Career plan

After a long time quiet, this is my second post in a day. Whatever next?

DZ has recently revalidated, almost certainly for the last time. Regular readers here will not be surprised by my lack of enthusiasm or respect for the process, which has not abated. In particular I am amused, frustrated, and offended even by the pre-occupation with the "Personal Development Plan". DZ is now well past the age at which, all but the most tenacious of doctors will have retired, but still working at a level only those other kindred spirits with two avaricious ex wives could understand. My PDP revolves solely around retirement before death. The only "development" that might prick up his interest is possibly one of these.

But then, that might lead him back again down the very path that got him to his present predicament.

There is no shortage of work though. The long standing chronic shortage of Consultants has now been massively exacerbated by the total clusterfuck over pension contribution taxation, which has caused seniors to drop extra work, and even take early retirement. DZ is turning down over 70% of work offered and still working up to 60 hours a week. A bit like the old days of being a "junior doctor". You would have thought that the powers that be might finally have cottoned on that taking doctors from their work to spend days pointlessly naval gazing, or "reflecting" as they call it, is a luxury they can't afford or justify. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

Despair

DZ is going to say something that, in the past, he would have said was so unacceptable, so appalling, so vile, so ignorant, so utterly beyond the bounds of decency, that he could not have contemplated articulating. But circumstances change in ways that could not perhaps have been foreseen.

So here goes.

I sincerely hope that the upcoming leadership election for the conservative party is won by Jeremy fucking Hunt!

The shame of it!

Idiot

And the international prize for the stupidest, most ignorant man on the planet goes, by a massive margin, to this man.

Representative John Becker of Ohio

For his proposal that ectopic pregnancies could be removed, and reimplanted into the uterus.

Clearly a man so stupid he would be considered inadequate for the job of village idiot in a Norfolk village

Tyranny

I suspect many of you, like DZ have been noticing with stunned amazement the extraordinary and bizarre goings on across the Atlantic. Not content with electing a President who is clearly intellectually subnormal, dangerous and deranged, they have an entire political party that seems to have lost it's collective mind, morals and shame. Add to that the fact that about a third of the population seems to be perfectly happy with living in this asylum.

Encouraged by this dysfunctional environment the religious right, loons to a man are, frantically trying to alter the country in the most damaging way to it's citizens in a clear attempt at dominionism hoping to take the USA back to the sort of religious fundamental tyranny that their forefathers came to the continent to escape.

Nothing could illustrate this more than the war than seems to be waged against womens' reproductive rights. State after state seems to be passing more and more laws designed to take away, almost overnight the rights that have taken decades to win.

So deranged are some of these laws that those who pass them are clearly lost in their own world of misogynist hateful ignorance that they don't even pause to contemplate whether the laws they are passing are even feasible. My favourite here is the package of laws passed in Ohio, one of which mandates that ectopic pregnancies must be removed from the fallopian tube and REIMPLANTED IN THE UTERUS???!!!. WTFFF? Did it not occur to them to get some advice from the medical profession on this one. The ignorance and stupidity here is beyond comprehension. And these are the people in charge. In a country that has a Constitution that separates church and state.

Fuck me sideways! It puts Brexit into perspective.

Giving to the rich

Now, before I start, don't get me wrong. I think that the burning down of Notre Dame cathedral is a great loss despite my lack of religious gullibility.

But there is one thing that makes me queasy.

I have no idea how much it will cost to rebuild, restore or replace the building. But I note that already a fund raising campaign has been started. And I have no doubt that the French government will pitch in too.

But, correct me if I'm wrong, but the cathedral was(is) the property of the Roman Catholic Church. The total worth of this institution is impossible to calculate, but certainly runs into hundreds of billions of pounds.

So why is an organisation so hypocritically wealthy accepting charitable donations to rebuild something they could easily afford to fund themselves. It's a shame they couldn't have spared a few euros to at least insure the place.

Perhaps I'm being unfair. Maybe they are having to put aside huge sums of cash for other purposes.

Like compensating all the victims of their abuse over the years.

Sorry

OK. I haven't posted anything in six months. Been very distracted by an amazing lady. Remiss of me. Giving it some thought. But I'm still here.